Legend Untold Chapter 19 Blank Slate Chapter 33 [i]Freehold Part 9[/i] Screaming filled my ears. Dust stung my eyes. Everything felt hazy, dreamlike, obscuring people’s faces and the names of the monolith structures around me. I shoved my way through panicking people, heading towards a building I felt I should recognize with a purpose I couldn’t quite grasp. An explosion cracked the air a short ways off, followed by the quickly growing roar of failing engines. The falling ship careened our from behind a skyscraper in front of me and smashed through another, sending the top portion of the building tumbling down towards the street. I grabbed a teenage boy that was gawking next to me and dragged him to the ground, laying myself between him and the gust of dust and concrete that swept down the street. After several moments of pelting, everything settled and I pushed myself up, running off again as soon as I saw the boy was alright. I was almost there. More debris fell into the streets, and I glanced up to see buildings crumbling from the attack. Behind the buildings there was nothing but darkness. Shoving the door open, I found myself in front of a group of people that I knew I had come for, but they were all focused on something else and I turned to see a man with a gun standing at another entrance to the room. He looked just as terrified as the others, and in his hand held what I recognized as a bag of supplies I had helped stuff earlier. The gun came to face me as my presence was noticed, but when one of the others in the room made a move it turned back. One shot. The man that had moved fell. A second shot. I dove in the way, and pain pierced my side. Third shot. My stomach. I wobbled on my feet, arms still stretched like a wall protecting those behind me. Before anything else could happen, the wall behind our assailant caved in. The gunman disappeared under the rubble, and I fell. Everything grew more vivid as my head came to rest on the floor and found myself looking at a view I remembered from a past vision. The hole in the wall revealed the starless sky, demolished city, and fearful people of the Collapse. After a moment, everything else faded to match the deep black. “William!” Rush’s voice dragged me back. I froze, fist raised to smash the chassis of a Minotaur that was already torn open. Sierra, Crag, Veronica, Ilya, and Fehri were all staring at me while the others were dancing or kicking at lifeless Vex parts. “Are you okay, William?” Ilya questioned. My mind raced to find an excuse; it seemed that only Rush knew I had blacked out. “What?” I played it off as if I was acting completely normal, “Just testing hull durability and weak points.” “Such a nerd,” Sierra shook her head and walked off, although I didn’t believe she really accepted my answer. The others gave me uncertain looks before going to join the others in celebrating victory. All aside from Fehri. “Dude! You were hardcore!” the Warlock punched my shoulder enthusiastically after I stepped off of the Minotaur, “Took out the big one and then tore those bots to shreds! How’d you do that anyway? A Ward and a Nova Bomb?” “You know how some Guardians learn more than one Subclass or Super?” I asked, getting a nod in response, “Well for me I just ended up with two Void Supers.” “You’re so weird,” Fehri laughed, then looked back at the others, “Oh please, I have much better moves than those clumsy Titans. CLEAR THE DANCE FLOOR!” With that, he joined the cluster of Guardians. Crag was the only one besides me standing separately, but he didn’t seem to be paying me any mind. I looked down to find my arms drenched in Mind Fluid. “What happened, Rush?” I whispered. “I don’t know,” my Ghost answered, “One second you were fine, the next you were tearing apart anything that came close.” “I saw my death again,” I explained, “I couldn’t stop my Light.” “Do you ever think that maybe you lose control because you’re trying too hard to keep control?” Rush riddled. “That doesn’t make any sense,” I dismissed. “It does,” Rush argued, “I know for a fact that Warlocks always teach each other that control is an illusion or something like that, and Titans just let loose everything.” “But it’s too much to let loose,” I protested. “What if that’s just what you’re telling yourself?” Rush pressed. I had no response to that. “Look, neither of us have heard of anyone else having this problem, Rush,” I moved on, “I’ll figure it out eventually. “There’s a lot of unheard of things you do,” Rush huffed, “Just…be careful.” “Wait a minute, when did you start caring about me? Or become a psychiatrist, for that matter?” I teased. “I just don’t fancy getting blown up in one of your episodes,” Rush joked. “Guys, I found stairs leading up and out!” Welkine called, and I spotted him standing by a small door in a shadowed corner of the room. “Would you look at that,” Yvan commented, “He’s not entirely useless after all.” “Not cool,” Welkine grumbled. “Still right, though,” Sierra snickered as she passed Welkine to go upstairs. “Alright, it’s one thing for Yvan to insult me, but you?! I hardly even know you!” Welkine whined, following the Huntress. Smiling at their antics, I went up with everyone else. We came out back into the miles of sand and glaring Sun. A giant dome rose out of the ground behind us; clearly where we had just been fighting. Skyscrapers surrounded us, showing that we were still in the sprawls of Freehold. “I am so lost right now,” Fehri chuckled, breaking the silence. “Not just me, then?” Drew seemed relieved. “Men and directions,” Sierra was probably rolling her eyes. “If any of you get lost, just take your ship back to where we first came down,” I directed. “Or just stick close to the people who won’t get lost,” Null suggested. “Psions!” Quintel exclaimed, pointing to two figures on a rise of sand. Before I could make out the forms of the two, Yvan’s sniper rifle was up and a crack split the air. One of the figures fell, only to sit back up a moment later while the other waved its arms angrily. “Those are Guardians!” I scolded. “Oops,” Yvan feigned shame. Very poorly. “You knew,” Sierra observed, sounding amused. “Come on, we’re going to apologize,” I ordered. “You can do that yourself, mom,” Yvan growled. “I’m not the mom,” I protested. “Yes you are, mommy Will,” Nat laughed. “Uh, guys,” Welkine warned, “Those people we shot at are coming over here.” Pt8: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/245635057/0/0 Pt10: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/245635383/0/0 ToC: https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/212710816/0/0